Miracle Card Shop: All My Cards Can Be Actualize

A few hours passed, and Azis returned to the city where the Sultan’s palace stood. This city had already become the capital of the Sultanate of Aqaba. Along the streets, the people were celebrating, with every bar in the city serving free drinks to commemorate the end of the decades-long civil war.

The warriors returning from the frontlines, where they had fought the last remnants of the warlord-turned-rebels, were greeted with warm welcomes from the citizens. The victory parade stretched on, with some soldiers casually seated on futuristic-looking tanks, dressed in power-armored jumpsuits, alongside many hover and anti-gravity vehicles.

Most of the troops walked in power armor with servo assistance, not wanting to exert themselves too much since they still had a grand feast awaiting them at the palace that night. All soldiers, even those of private rank, were invited to the celebration.

Azis sat atop a tank, wearing his pilot jumpsuit, waving to the people of Aqaba. How long had he dreamed of this moment? How difficult had it been for the country to achieve this? He and his brother knew the hardships better than anyone else. Decades of struggle… and now it had finally paid off. Though the outcome had come in a way he had never anticipated.

In the end, the alliance with New Atlantis had proven to be the right choice. Surprisingly, they had no interest in the rich minerals, rare earth, and oil beneath the Sultanate of Aqaba. Later, he learned why: New Atlantis possessed advanced underwater mining technology, making the mineral wealth beneath the sea more than sufficient. Its reserves were far more abundant than anything on land, thanks to the sea’s limited access.

As for oil? New Atlantis quickly introduced a new form of energy to their country—Ether. It was a clean energy source that left no harmful residues like oil, which produced carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, and other pollutants. In fact, many of New Atlantis’s soldiers and officers had developed a certain disdain for fossil fuels, viewing them as people now looked down on coal-powered plants.

Yes, oil was still a key component for many industries, those people from New Atlantis were aware of that fact. Many products couldn’t be made without it. But since New Atlantis had already developed alternative energy, using oil for anything other than products like tires or plastics seemed backward in their eyes.

Azis believed it was only a matter of time before New Atlantis developed replacements for all oil-based products. When that time came, many oil-dependent nations would face difficult times, including the Sultanate of Aqaba.

All New Atlantis wanted was the right to use the most desolate and barren land—the Aqaba Great Dune Sea—and 50 kilometers around their weapons testing site.

They had established an experimental weapons research center there and had even extended an olive branch to share the research results with the Sultanate of Aqaba. Their generosity was almost suspicious, and Azis couldn’t shake the thought that they might have an ulterior motive.

But if New Atlantis had ulterior motives, Azis had no idea what they could be. The only thing the Sultanate of Aqaba had to offer was its natural resources, and New Atlantis didn’t care about those.

As he looked out at the crowds celebrating, at the victory parade, and at the newly repaired buildings and shops lining both sides of the road, Azis could only marvel once again at the power of New Atlantis.

Azis still remembers it as if it happened yesterday. In the first week, New Atlantis—no, Daniel—agreed to allow them to use their weapons and armor, including power armor, to end the civil war. They spent five days learning how to operate this advanced technology, and during those five days, Daniel unleashed Vlad to decimate several warlord forces.

During this time, both he and the Sultan discovered that some of these warlord forces were backed by mages from various families. The mages belonging to families under the Order of Ember, a mage organization under Daniel’s control, quickly apologized and withdrew their support.

However, the mages from the Hightower were not as fortunate—they ended up as impaled corpses, victims of Vlad’s sadistic onslaught, along with the warlord forces they had supported.

After cramming all the necessary knowledge about the technology into their heads, it was time for them to take matters into their own hands. Using foreign forces to resolve a local conflict wasn’t a wise move.

Yes, they utilized the weapons and high-tech toys from New Atlantis, but there was a significant difference between using foreign technology and deploying foreign soldiers. Local people don’t look kindly on outsiders killing their own, regardless of the reason. So, they left the rest to the Sultan’s forces to finish.

It could be said that the week that followed, up until the last fortress of the final warlord was destroyed, was nothing short of a one-sided massacre. The enemy’s weapons couldn’t even leave a scratch on the power armor, and their RPG rockets were too weak to pierce the tank’s armor.

For those warlord forces equipped with some high-tech gear from Europe, New Atlantis had developed shield technology for the tanks. This shield would discharge and neutralize the warhead before it could reach the armor whenever the tank’s onboard AI detected that the warhead had enough power to pose a threat.

The warhead would strike the energy shield and explode several meters before making contact with the tank. Afterward, the shooter would immediately be reduced to mincemeat, as the AI also identified and marked the target for the driver.

The war came to a swift end in just two weeks. To summarize: in the first five days, Vlad had eliminated half of the warlord forces, particularly those backed by mages. Then, over the next nine days, Azis and the Sultan’s forces pushed the remaining warlords to extinction with overwhelming technological and firepower superiority, finally ending the decades-long civil war.

— The Sultan’s Palace —

Azis returned from the victory parade and began preparing for the grand feast that would take place tonight. The celebration was not only for those within the Sultan’s forces, who would dine on the palace grounds, but also for the entire capital city, where the people would enjoy free meals and drinks courtesy of the Sultan.

He entered the palace’s main hall and made his way toward the Sultan’s study. There, he saw Daniel, dressed in a black tuxedo, standing beside Koyuki Mori, the princess of the Mori Clan, who was garbed in a traditional kimono. She stood next to her husband, Daniel Emberweave.

In Daniel’s hand was a small bullion of gold-like metal, which he handed to the Sultan for inspection.

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"So... this is the legendary ore, Orichalcum?" the Sultan asked, scrutinizing the strange metal in his hand.

"Your Majesty," Azis greeted as he bowed respectfully before the Sultan.

"Ah! Brother-in-law, please, come in. We’re having an important conversation, and I believe you should hear it as well," the Sultan said, waving his hand to invite Azis closer.

"Yes, Your Majesty." Azis stepped in, positioning himself a respectful distance away from the Sultan, mindful of the formality of the occasion. His sister, the Sultan’s wife, stood slightly behind the Sultan, a smile adorning her face. She was the current queen of the Sultanate of Aqaba.

"Lord Emberweave, you mentioned that we have this kind of metal beneath our land. How much of it is there? And while you’ve said you don’t care about our mineral and oil resources, are you perhaps after this magical resource within our borders?" the Sultan inquired, his smile polite but clearly diplomatic, not genuine.

"Believe it or not, I’m not interested in this magical resource either," Daniel replied. "Remember, I have access to an entire planet’s ocean floor, and there’s a great deal more of this kind of metal down there. And Yes, from what I know, your reserves are among the top five in the world—two of which are located in Europe and the North Atlantic, under the control of the Hightower."

He paused before continuing, "I won’t touch your reserves. What I need from you is something different—I need your help to stage a play."

"Oh? Interesting," the Sultan said, perking up with curiosity. "Please, tell me, Lord Emberweave, what kind of play?"

"You know, mages and supernatural beings have their own economy. They use origold as their main currency to purchase magical ingredients and goods. Throughout the world, it’s the equivalent of the dollar."

Daniel continued, "The Hightower controls two large reserves of orichalcum ore, while I control only one, located in Russia. These three reserves account for half of the entire world’s supply because no other reserves can compare to them. You, however, possess the fourth, nearly untouched reserve of orichalcum."

As Daniel explained, the Sultan pondered what Daniel was truly after.

"Let me guess... my reserve is the wildcard in this game? And you want me to support the currency you’re about to introduce in order to undermine the Hightower’s economic credibility?" the Sultan asked, a cunning smile playing on his lips.